Fat Cobra

This is 100% true!

One of my favorite quotes: "Pain is the best instructor but no one wants to attend his class!" Train hard my friends!

Tallgeese, Domo Arigato.

I don't like the idea of a remake. Even if it is decent (to which there can be no guarantees), it will not be as good as the original. Some movies are not meant to be remade (The Magnificent Seven being a good example--decent remake but no match for the original).

I practice that with my daughter. We call it her war face. Ha...show me your War Face!!!!!!!!!!

Master Ken is amazing, as is Ameri-do-te because it has the strength of all styles and the weaknesses of none!

I will throw my 2 cents in, for whatever it is worth. Before, though, here is my bona fides. I spent 24.5 years in the United States Army as an Infantry Officer, Ranger qualified, and spent 11.5 of those years stationed in the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) in Fort Drum, NY, where I now live as a retired lieutenant colonel and work on post as a contracted military trainer. I also run the Shubu Kan Dojo on post (FB: @shubukanURKA). I deployed 6 times (3 x operational: Panama, Kosovo, Bosnia // and 3 x combat: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iraq) for a total of 3 years and 5 months. My last job in the Army was as a light infantry battalion commander, where I emphasized combatives training to the max for the entire unit. I agree that cross training can be good, but the styles and types you train depends on what you are preparing for. Training for combat is different than training for a MMA fight, which is different than training for street self defense, which is different from point sparring, which is different from, etc. etc. In combat, you kill with your primary weapon, then your secondary weapon, then an improvised weapon (like a helmet, entrenching tool) or knife, and then with your hands, feet, head. The last thing you want to do is go to the ground with all of your equipment and body armor, it does not matter how skilled you are in BJJ. If your opponent is an insurgent and is not wearing heavy equipment he will mop the floor with you and probably pull something off of your kit that he can use against you. Additionally, punches and kicks are going to be somewhat limited based on the equipment you are wearing and those things can take a while to subdue a foe. Punching and kicking combined with vital point strikes, joint locks, and dirty moves (biting, eye gouging, head butting, hair pulling, pinching, whatever works) is the best way to fight if you have to do so without weapons. However, none of that will work within the rules of MMA or point sparring. In MMA you must be cross trained because, based on the rules of the game, you have to be. On the street, I would argue that you want to subdue your opponent as quickly as possible. Again, this means punching and kicking combined with vital point strikes, joint locks and dirty moves. Going to the ground in this scenario is not a good idea because your aggressor may have friends who will stomp on your head (not good). That does not mean ground fighting is only important for MMA. it is good to have ground fighting and BJJ/Catch Wrestling to enable you to fight if you do get taken to the ground. But, for what I have prepared for (combat), stand up, vital point strikes, joint locks, and dirty moves were more of a focus.

Wadoka use naihanchi as an exercise for developing internal structure. I can't speak for every wado dojo but I have never spent significant dojo time exploring naihanchi's application. Not because they don't exist, because it's obviously full of combative principles, but because I think the wado pedagogy is to purposefully divorce it from application. It's where wado's koryu jujutsu and kenjutsu pedigree is particularly apparent. The problem with that is naihanchi is not an easy entry point to developing internal power and there are few people willing and able to teach it. I've fleetingly trained in a few chinese internal arts and some of the similarities to naihanchi are interesting. It's an avenue I'm interested in exploring further and I've found a style agnostic teacher, I just have to find the time to work on some of the solo exercises before visiting. I didn't get in to it with the physio. I believe the stance itself doesn't permit much mobility but it's long term structural impact is an increased mobilty in a more neutral stance. He didn't seem to notice my femurs were rotated in and my knees and ankles were neutral so who knows what assumptions he was making. Mushybees, I study Ryukyu Kempo (originally developed by Taika Oyata). The 3 Naihanchi Katas are the first 3 katas we learn, and then continue to develop and refine throughout our entire lives. In fact, Naihanchi Shodan is probably the "flagship" kata of Ryukyu Kempo. The kata, at its basic level, teaches structural integrity with stance and footwork moving between naihanchi dachi and kosa dachi. Also, the bunkai for the kata, as interpreted in Tuite Jitsu (seize hand art...or joint locks) is phenomenal. Naihanchi Shodan alone has 12 Tuite Jitsu / Self Defense moves in it.

Dauntless Druid, I am new to the forums too and also in Upstate NY. I am in the Watertown, NY area. Where at upstate are you?

Domo Airgato Gozaimasu for all the warm welcomes.

I study Taika Oyata's style. From 2007 to 2009 I was in Taika Oyata's organization, Ryute Renmei. From 2009 to present I am in the United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance (URKA) run by Kaicho Allan Amor. -Fat Cobra

Hello to all. I am new to the forums and checking in. I am a Sandan in Ryukyu Kempo (United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance) and recently started the Shubu Kan Dojo at Fort Drum, New York. I have 31 years experience in the Martial and Combative arts, including training in Taekwondo, Boxing, Wrestling, Kuk Sool Won, and Modern Army Combatives. However, I have focused singularly on Ryukyu Kempo since 2007. -Fat Cobra

Hello to all. I am new to the forums and checking in. I am a Sandan in Ryukyu Kempo (United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance) and recently started the Shubu Kan Dojo at Fort Drum, New York. I have 31 years experience in the Martial and Combative arts, including training in Taekwondo, Boxing, Wrestling, Kuk Sool Won, and Modern Army Combatives. However, I have focused singularly on Ryukyu Kempo since 2007. -Fat Cobra